Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha has called on the government to digitise all land and property records in India using blockchain technology. He argued that a national Blockchain Property Registry would make records tamper-proof, accelerate property dispute resolution, and improve property tax compliance, among other benefits. Citing examples from Sweden, the UAE, and Georgia, he said blockchain could streamline property transactions and increase transparency in the sector.
“Land records in India are in utter chaos. Ordinary citizens are made to run from pillar to post at registrar offices, while dalals and middlemen capture the system. Circle rates are exploited to fuel cash deals, property tax leakages continue, fake documents and encroachments multiply, and disputes over title never end,” the Aam Aadmi Party MP said during the Budget discussion in the Upper House of Parliament on February 9.
Referring to available data, Chadha noted that land-related issues account for about 66% of civil disputes in India, that 45% of properties lack a clear title, and that 48% are already under dispute. He did not disclose the source of these statistics.
“Even a simple property sale can take 2 to 6 months. When disputes arise, civil courts take 7 years on average to resolve them,” he said, adding 6.2 crore property documents are still pending digitisation.
Raghav Chadha questioned the existing land sales system in India, pointing to deep-rooted structural issues that, he said, continue to affect property ownership, registration, and dispute resolution.
Taking note of the problems, Chadha made a case in Parliament for a National Blockchain Property Register, noting that countries such as Sweden, Georgia, and the UAE have already demonstrated what is possible with such technology.
The National Blockchain Property Register “time stamped, tamper proof, fully transparent. It can make title verification instant, and ensure every sale, mutation and inheritance is recorded cleanly and traceably in real time,” he said.
Countries such as Sweden, Georgia and the UAE have shown what is possible. “Transactions can finish in minutes, and dispute rates fall sharply,” he said.
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“India must move from chaos to clarity. From a land record system that creates obstacles to one that prevents them,” he said.
What is blockchain
In the context of property, a blockchain functions as a digital ledger that records ownership details and transaction history, essentially documenting who owns what and when.
By enabling the creation of a secure digital record of transactions, blockchain establishes an immutable system with a permanent audit trail. Once land records and property transactions are stored on blockchain software, governments, banks, agents, buyers and sellers can easily access the complete data chain linked to a property. This can significantly reduce fraud and prevent the same property from being sold multiple times to different entities.
The Supreme Court, in its judgments in November and April 2025, clarified that registering a property document does not prove ownership. Both rulings struck down state rules that sought to turn the sub-registrar’s office into a mini-court, requiring checks on whether the seller actually owns the land being sold. In doing so, the court held that registration in India is about a transaction, not ownership. It also called India’s land record system “structurally fragile” and, in the November order, suggested the use of blockchain technology as an “alternative paradigm” to integrate “the property registration regime with conclusive titling”.
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